‘Veronica Mars’ to Get Big Screen Adaptation with $2 Million on Kickstarter in 24 Hours

The Kristen Bell-starring cult TV series “Veronica Mars”, about a high school student who moonlights as a private detective, was cancelled in 2007 after three seasons, but now the project is getting a big screen adaptation from Warner Bros. – after raising $2 million from fans on Kickstarter in less than a day.

Kickstarter is usually used to fund independent projects, rather than something studio-connected, but Warner Bros. offered to let Bell and series creator Rob Thomas begin shooting a film this summer if they could generate enough fan interest by raising $2 million within 30 days. They accomplished the goal in just 10 hours, a record for Kickstarter.

Pledge prizes for the project ranged from a PDF of the shooting script for $10 to a speaking role in the film – which was snagged within the first hour of the campaign for $10,000. Other prizes offered for donations included a personalized video message from Bell, a digital copy of the film from Flixter, set visits during the filming, a private hometown screening of the film, and the chance to name a character in the movie.

The campaign’s success is a testament to cult fandom, but also raises questions about studios profiting from crowdfunding sources like Kickstarter. (So far, Warner Bros.’s involvement extends to aiding with distribution and marketing for the film.)

Here’s a video made by Bell and other members of the “Veronica Mars” cast promoting the Kickstarter campaign:

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puOtX6HUoMk’]

The Veronica Mars movie is expected to shoot this summer, with an eye on a 2014 release.

An avid Flickcharter since 2009, Nigel is a self-described fanboy whose Top 20 is dominated by the likes of Indiana Jones, Frodo Baggins and Marty McFly. Nigel is the Canadian arm of the Flickchart Blog, but try not to hold that against him. You can find him on Flickchart as johnmason.